Newsom Wisely Avoids Transit Bailout in May Budget Revise

By Marc Joffe
05/16/2023
Governor Newsom’s FY 2023-24 budget update included a larger projected deficit and more balancing measures than his January budget. But, despite pressure from Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and transit agencies, the May Revise excluded emergency funding for local bus and rail systems around the state. The agencies’ proposed transit bailout was at best premature,...

TAGS: budget, California budget, California state budget, Gavin Newsom, state budget, Transportation, transportation infrastructure

Sacramento’s Mismanagement of Taxpayer Dollars

By Sheridan Swanson
05/11/2023
Leaders in Sacramento are grappling with the state budget this month as California faces a budget deficit of nearly $32 billion. Senate leaders claim they can address the deficit without cutting spending on state programs, but the reality is that a fiscal reckoning is long overdue. According to a survey released by the Public Policy...

TAGS: budget, California budget, California state budget, Gavin Newsom, state budget

Inflation-adjusted per capita state spending doubles in one decade – for what?

By Edward Ring
06/16/2022
The California State Legislature has just released the “Floor Report of the 2022-2023 Budget,” and it’s a doozy. Representing an agreement between the budget committees of the Assembly and the Senate, and building on Governor Newsom’s proposal, this $300 billion monstrosity has moved one step closer to becoming final. To fully appreciate how out of...

TAGS: budget, California state budget, Edward Ring, state budget

National Review’s Radio Free California Podcast Episode 206: California Lawmakers Propose State Takeover of Health Care

By Will Swaim
01/13/2022
Assembly Bill 1400 would double California taxes and transform doctors into virtual state employees. Gavin Newsom’s new budget aims to signal his “global leadership” on global-climate issues but reveals instead his documented failures to achieve more modest goals at home. The remarkable, 21-year run of California’s standout auditor ends with a crucial fight over her...

TAGS: budget, Newsom, single-payer

Newsom’s Education Spending Binge

By Edward Ring
05/19/2021
“It is our hope that all schools will be able to physically open for five days per week in the fall but local conditions will determine whether that is possible.” – Cecily Myart-Cruz, President, United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA Update 5/14/2021) It’s impossible to know what “local conditions” are going to look like when...

TAGS: budget, education, Newsom

California fiscal outlook remains grim

By David Schwartzman
07/20/2017
California’s state government collected $2.68 billion less in revenues than expected during the 2016-17 fiscal year. The bad news will likely worsen California’s position relative to other states:  After crunching 2015 data for fiscal conditions in all fifty states, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University ranks California 43rd. While we rank a relatively strong...

TAGS: budget, infrastructure

Forget fiscal responsibility: Jerry Brown embraces pension shell game

By Steven Greenhut
05/16/2017
The Brown administration decided to (kind of, sort of) tackle the state’s massive and growing level of unfunded liabilities – i.e., the hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer-backed debt to fund retirement promises made to the state’s government employees. It’s best to curb our enthusiasm, however. The governor didn’t have much of a choice.

TAGS: budget, California Governor Jerry Brown

Transparency: Many ways to put your agency’s budget online

By Marc Joffe
05/10/2017
Across California governments are putting more of their information online. While browser-based charts and graphs showing your agencies’ revenues and expenditures will impress constituents, moving fiscal data online can be challenging – especially for those governments that do not have a lot of technology geeks on staff. Fortunately, governments now have an array of options...

TAGS: budget, Transparency

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California’s Literacy Crisis

For decades, teachers, parents, academics, scientists, and curriculum developers have been engaged in a pitched battle over the best methods to implement effective, comprehensive and practical reading instruction. This controversy, dubbed the “reading wars,” has had lifelong consequences for a generation of students who have been hostages and unwitting casualties of the war. Experts believe...

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